35d MPG
 

What are some real world MPGs for a 35d? Is it a meaningful pick up over a 50i ?

Thanks.

I have a 2010 35d wife gets typically 27mpg (80% highway) I haven't ever gotten over 25mpg in it. And I get about 14mpg towing my 5000lb travel trailer

I've had mine for less than a year and about 14k miles.

Best tank = 26.59 mpg (mostly highway, some city)
Worst tank = 16.15 mpg (pretty much all city)
Lifetime avg = 22.02 mpg

I keep a spreadsheet and record all my fill-ups. I have yet to have a tank that is all highway, most of my trips have been in the 300-400 range, my best tank range was 580 miles.

I haven't driven a 50i. The torgue in the 35d is nice.

For comparison, in my 06 X5 3.0i, my best tank was 20.8 mpg and the worst was 12.12 mpg with an average of 17.85 mpg over 65k miles with a lot of highway driving.

Over the past two years I've averaged 23 MPG on daily 18-30 mile commutes, along with other mostly suburban driving. My average speed reported by the trip computer is 27-30 MPH, which gives some idea of how "mixed" it truly is. On longer trips with mostly highway driving I've gotten 26 to 27 MPG, although that can drop off if the average speed is over 80 MPH. Cold weather also has an effect, about 1 MPG for me when the temps are below freezing.

wow i'd love to get 27! But honestly, I love what i'm getting now too. Considering i'm getting better fuel mileage than my v6 mustang was.(22MPG) I'm still a newbie though. Hopefully my dd routine keeps this up!

See Sig.

I am not sure 50i should be compared to 35d. Someone who buys 50i usually doesn't put mpg on top of priorities.

I have 35d, but would go for 50i

Driving 60-65 on highway, you can crack 600 miles on one tank. I have done that once, but it takes some discipline.

Most long trips here in wa are driven at 70-80mph.
There's something about 35d driving at 80mph. The RPM's are in sweet spot, where pressing a gas (shall say diesel) pedal results in a quick response and vehicle accelerating without downshifting.

If you have a choice, go for 50i. If it's above your budget, make a choice between 35i and 35d.

what sort of MPGs are the 50i drivers getting?

10 to 12 local, 17 to 18 highway. 4.69 a gallon for premium is painful.

ouch!

According to the trip computer, 17.8 mpg. The majority (> 80%) of my mileage is on the highway.

2011 x50i

09 35d here. The only #'s I have paid attention to are highway #'s. It is fairly easy to get 26+/- mpg highway. I tried to be gentle with the throttle and got about 28.3 MPG on a 35 mile highway tip last week. Cruise was set at about 75 mph most of the time. Both of these figures were from the computer.

21.9 lifetime average (17k miles) according to the trip computer (2011 35d). Never seems to sway from that number. Good mix of heavy footed acceleration around town, and highway driving at ~80mph.

Just did a round trip from Chicago to Denver and back in the past week. Almost all Interstate driving at 65-75 mph. MPG went between 27 and 31 mpg for the trip. Best mpg was from Denver to Iowa, probably due to the wind at my back and the drop in elevation.

I've noticed that there is a major drop in the diesel mpg when one increases the cruising speed from 60 to 70+ mph -- that last 10-15 mph seems to hit the mpg hard.

If it will be your sole automotive thrill, hard to not say F-it, and get the 50. Just budget ~2x for fuel costs.

But if YOU have faster cars to play with, then a diesel is a near perfect solution for an SUV that is a wife driven, family trip type car.

IMO

A

25.8 MPG
 

After 32,000+ miles and 95 fill-ups, the average mpg on our 2010 X5d is 25.8

The lifetime mpg on my 2011 X5 35d is 21.2 @ 36k miles. Same driving on my previous 2008 4.8 (which has similar mpg sticker to 5.0) was 14.1. You do the math!

Wow. Anyone want to buy my 50i? I am digging the 35d. All the fun and less pain at the pump.

My X5M 50d has just clocked over 5,000klm and with 70% City & 30% Country driving I am getting 9.3ltr/100klm, hoping it will get down to around 8.9ltr once it gets run-in.

The 50i rocks. Don't get me wrong.

38,000 miles and the lifetime average is around 20 MPG, between 85% and 90% "in town" driving. It's the wife's primary vehicle, and she doesn't have a commute really (a few days a week, 5 miles, all back roads.)

21.9 mpg avg on my daily commute, and that is with aggressive driving against these lousy daily commute drivers.

Around 25 MPG, 50% city-highway, with a light foot. Once the turbocharger kicks in it gobbles diesel fast.

One thing I've noticed is that the AC seems to cause a big drain on the 35d, more than I recall on previous gasoline-engined cars. When the weather is in the 40s to mid-60s, I can turn it completely off and open the sunroof and/or windows, and the MPG goes up by 2-3 MPG on my daily commute. The X5 also feels more responsive, although I can't say whether that is a real thing or just because I can hear more of the engine when the windows are down.

What's annoying is that the X5 (and many other BMWs and non-BMWs) insist on running the AC all of the time. I've heard the explanations/excuses that this dries out the air, blah blah blah, but I live in a very dry area, so that's idiotic. The X5 also doesn't appear to have a "vent-only" mode, and instead has to have the fan on to get any air moving. This air is apparently ducted through the engine bay or something, as it is always warmer than it should be. I love AC and the automatic climate control on the X5, but it shouldn't exclude being able to use it for vents.

One note on the trip computer, mine has never been accurate, and I check it against a manual calculation every time I fill it up. It's always lower than actual, and has been off by no less than .3 and as much as 1.5. What I wish we had was a digital readout of the instantaneous MPG, like I had on my e92 335i, instead of the 90's-era analog gauge.

I've consistently had 21 to 23 in town which is majority of my driving. My last 200 mile trip to the mountains and back was just over 28. I have about 16,000 miles on my 2011 now (May 2011 purchase). My diesel prices have varied from a low of $3.70 a gallon to $4.29 now (winter months higher...summer that better price).

I do also find the AC a big drag on performance and when temps dropped here and I no longer need AC (I just switch off the AC button after hitting Auto on the climate control) the X has nice throttle response and feels quicker.

I've not regretted the purchase. Always seems to have plenty of grunt to get the job done and put a smile on my face. As another poster said if you go to the 50i mileage is probably not your biggest concern. I think where the diesel shines is the balance between mileage and performance. My .02 cents.

I typically leave the fan on at 2 or 3 'bars' to circulate air, just like any other vehicle - no AC involved if the 'auto' and 'snowflake' buttons are not lit - and at start-up, it remains how it was left when turned off - it does not "insist on running AC all the time" (unless, perhaps, the key memory is set to have AC on). If the temperature setting is lower than the ambient temperature, no warm air should be coming through.

In truth, pretty crummy. My wife's 2011 X535d gets 14-15 mpg in all-city driving with lots of stops and gos and carpool waiting lines; a/c on most of the year. She's never been the most efficient driver, but still.

I get 21ish around town; 25 - 28 highway. Usually 25, as that is the 80 mph rate. I can't imagine how to get 15, unless I just park it for 6 hours with the engine running... Btw 2012 35d with about 6500 miles on it.

22-23 90% city wife driven here.

When we do 400mi all freeway trips the speed is really key. Driven at 80mph I can average around 24-25mpg.

One time I decided to drive exactly the speed limit - roughly 70mph and I averaged 29mpg door to door. This just goes to show you the aero effects of that last 10mph - it isn't linear :)

New member here. I just bought a 09 X5 35d with 38k on it. First tank I averaged 23 mpg, second tank I switched to Cenex diesel, and got 24.11 mpg. My driving has been 24 miles to work at 70mph. Then some around town driving as well. But since this vehicle is new to me, I have been really trying to get good mileage.

James May of Top Gear mentioned same about how much more horsepower is needed to push Veyron (that he drove top speed) the last 50mph of the range compared.

Sometimes folks here complain that their 35d doesn't reach the official 26mpg number, while driving at 80mph. Meanwhile they forget that 35d was most likely tested at 60mph, and 35d easily does more than 26 mph at that speed.

Also a new member here. :D

Picked up a CPO 2010 X5 35d w/ 32k miles this summer and so far have averaged 19 to 22 mpg city/hwy.

I'll second what other posters have said in that the 35d is a great, natch FANTASTIC, family hauler if you already have a fun toy (e46 m3 in my case). Although a little-one will fit in the coupe's backseat, the X5's rear passenger space is much more airy, especially w/ the rear climate package.

While turbo lag exists, this thing gets up to 80 plenty fast and the handling is quite sharp for a "SUV," probably due to the unibody frame. Really, for a compromise between power, sportiness, and fuel consumption, the 35d is the best package offered here in the states; although the new Cayenne diesel has been reviewed favorably, I still prefer BMW's interior.

I hit 33.2 today traveling at 62 mph average. My tank read 645miles after filling up.

UPDATE: I filled up with BP brand diesel, and drove from Moline, IL to St. Louis averaging 73 mph. I got 29.1 mpg. The second leg of my trip was into Arkansas with some stop and go driving after I got there for a few days, that leg was 27.14 mpg. I have been adding the silver bottle of Powerservice Cetane/Kleen to my tank.

Hate to be negative but aafter 21,000 miles in my 2011 35d I'm averaging 16.8. Admittedly it is mostly all city driving here in Southern California with 2-3 trips per day up and down the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Hoping the F15 will do a lot better.

I have a 2010 3.0d (German Spec)
20 mpg in the mountains, 33 on the highway

Got my 2012 X5d back in July and have been keeping a log of MPG since. It was around 19 for the first two months and jumped to about 21 over the last 2 months for an average of about 20. This is with 70% city (very hilly) and 30% highway. I'm hoping the MPG will keep getting better because this is not too exciting... Of course my lead-foot style of driving is probably not helping...

I got 13 on my X :wow: Considering getting the 50i, hows the MPG with that? Better than 13-14? And is it considerably worse than the 40d? (same thing as the 3.5d)

Did an experiment with my 35d last week, it was my first long road trip, Philly to Pittsburgh to Erie and back to Philly. When I got to Erie, I had about 240 miles on the tank (reading half tank) and the computer was showing 23.1 mpg. I decided I'd do the speed limit all the way back to Philly to see what I'd get. Drove down to 80, across to 476 down to Philly. The results were pretty impressive considering where I started, 593 miles on the tank (considering at 240 miles it was showing half full), 21.536 gallons to fill, which gave me a calculated mpg of 27.54.

How come the 35d is so bad on fuel for a lot of you guys??

My '05 3.0d gets better than 33 Mpg with 80% highway and 25 Mpg with mostly city stop start driving??

Admittedly, I am a total nanna on the gas pedal, but still, I'm surprised at the difference!!

Not bagging the 35d by they way, I'd much rather have one than mine, but just find it interesting!!!

maybe its the style of driving...i've noticed that if you coast more, you get better mileage... i dunno...maybe i hold the pedal too long?

Just did round trip Charlotte to Atlanta and back. Decided to keep speed to 5 over for trip, probably averaged about 70 mph.

29mpg indicated on trip computer; 29.03 mpg calculated at fill up. And that included about 20 miles of around town plus some heavy traffic.

For perspective, same trip in a 4cyl CR-V yielded a bit over 22mpg, and a whole lot less fun...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Combined, I get around 19-20. Highway, today I got 24 today going max 75-80MPH.

I'm also gassing it from dead stop to my desired speed, but I don't speed past 71MPH normally.

What are the EPA numbers for each vehicle?

Never mind, I looked it up...

Based on what I read, I should expect my 2006 4.4 to get no better than 20 MPG.

Yet my combined return (~60% Highway? - according to the computer) is 19.1.

Pure highway, at 75 - 80 I believe I am getting about 21 steady state?

But, no matter what the numbers, I have had my X5 for about 5-6 years now and I do not feel oppressed by the mileage or cost of gas. I go where I want, I fuel up and keep going. So, as many people would say, if you are buying a $65K vehicle, is the extra cost of a grand or two a year really that big a deal? I don't think so.

When filling the tank, and getting a $100 or more tab, if it bothers me, then I switch to another vehicle until the prices come back down a bit - or I just keep driving because I enjoy the car.

I realize I may be different because in all my life I have NEVER owned any vehicle that got better than 17 City and 25 Highway (EPA).

So again, why sweat it... If you want a car that drives like an X5 (which is heavy), you deal with the cost of gas, otherwise there is always the Acura with it's 5% better mileage with a smaller engine or some other vehicles to consider.

If I had to sacrifice some of the performance of the 5.0 to get the 20% boost in mileage (which might save me $500 a year) would it be worth it to me? Probably not... But of course everyone had different priorities and wants.

[QUOTE=X-ray Lima;906491]How come the 35d is so bad on fuel for a lot of you guys?? .../QUOTE]

I think it's a combination of the driving style and terrain. As noted previously, I'm only getting about 20 MPG currently, but that's with a heavy lead-foot and very hilly city streets.

my x5d is getting the mpg i expect, high teens around town and mid 20's on the hwy.

After owning my 2011 with 90,000 miles for one month I've gotten 31.7 MPG on a 120 mile trip on a 2-lane highway passing through 11 towns. I've done that trip 3 times and consistently got that MPG. Normally average just over 30 without trying to be easy on the pedal. I have the sport pkg with the 315 20" tires in the back which you would think would increase rolling resistance. Am considering exhaust mods to help with MPG's.